York-Durham Heritage Railway (Ontario) scrapping and move

SD70dude · **Posted:** Thu Dec 21, 2023 5:08 pm

Facebook video of a heavyweight coach being chopped up a few days ago. I can watch it without being logged in but just in case the YDHR's caption is copied and pasted below. I believe the four scrapped cars were CP 1462 (later used to house an Ontario Hydro employee model railway layout), VIA 3209 (originally VIA/CN 5644), VIA 3232 (originally VIA/CN 5593) and CN 4960 (previously CN 2783, originally Canadian Northern 7233).

"A sad day for YDHR in order to comply with the Township of Uxbridge. We are removing and scrapping our back four original passenger coaches that were used for many years in the beginning days of YDHR."

https://www.facebook.com/YorkDurhamRail ... 2417792064

And today the YDHR posted the following announcement:

York-Durham Heritage Railway wrote:

Important Update

A statement from the Board of Directors at York Durham Heritage Railway
It is with a very heavy heart we announce our tenure in Uxbridge is coming to an end on May 31, 2024. This is almost the end of an era for all who have been involved with the railway over the years, we “grew up” and came of age in this wonderful community. Even though we are very excited about our future and look forward to it, we are very sad to depart from Uxbridge.

This is not a decision we made lightly, however the last few months the Township of Uxbridge Council have shown us they believe with a whole heart we have overstayed our welcome and made it very clear their insurmountable pressure will continue until we leave.

Our heart is with this community and we have tried and given it our all, however, we are not perfect or in the business of war and cannot stay when it is so clearly written we are not welcome. We are on a new journey and look forward to the future, our energy and vision is in the new plans and what the future brings.

We certainly look forward to hosting you at our new home in 2024, just as many thousands of people have come to Uxbridge during the past 20+ years, we know many of you will come and visit. Please stay tuned, check our website often for two reasons, enjoy the festivities with us until May 31, 2024 and find out when and where you will celebrate with us next.

We thank you Uxbridge for all you have done for our organization, for your patience and support. You will forever be in our hearts and we will miss you all.

We would love to hear your favourite memory with us below.

Media inquires: john@ydhr.ca

hullmat991 · **Joined:** Sun Dec 28, 2014 11:12 pm **Posts:** 223

What exactly is the background behind the dispute the town has with the Railway? Ive found bits and pieces from both sides; but nothing really concrete. It almost feels a bit tit for tat with the back forth. I understand the town owns the station, but Metrolink owns the track / right of way. So unless the Metro said to get rid of the cars what right did the town have the more or less condemned?

daylight4449 · **Posted:** Thu Dec 21, 2023 7:58 pm

Hullmat, I do agree with your point that this sounds like a tit for tat, but in the short time I've been in local government I have a feeling this probably didn't start with the railway. I'm assuming because some local politician got their nose bent out of shape where they couldn't get "their" way, and them and their colleagues who think the same way decided to go scorched earth with no thought about how it hurts the community. It's a regular occurrence in my own town hall.

Now Uxbridge looses all the ridership and the business that the railway brings. That's going to hit the tax revenue when there's less stuff happening locally. And that little war just gutted the anchor that it seems that the downtown area orbits around, what look like small businesses all within easily a 1/4 to 1/2 mile when I look at a map. That's all walking distance, with the other main concentration of businesses being a concentration down on Route 47 easily a mile south. How many of those downtown small businesses are in Uxbridge in a year or two?

CMDoc87 · **Joined:** Sat Apr 09, 2022 12:59 am **Posts:** 14

hullmat991 wrote:

So unless the Metro said to get rid of the cars what right did the town have the more or less condemned?

The town would not renew the lease for the depot which ended 12/31/2023 unless the cars were removed (and per the railroad on facebook the timeline was so short that meant scrap), they then went on a ticketing streak against the passengers cars (at least per the railroad which released a warning to their customers also on facebook).

Here is the meeting notice from the town:

https://www.uxbridge.ca/en/news/council ... DvUubOq4I4

I'll also attempt to upload the photo from the township's facebook.

k5ahudson · **Joined:** Tue Aug 24, 2004 6:30 am **Posts:** 767

hullmat991 wrote:

What exactly is the background behind the dispute the town has with the Railway? .... I understand the town owns the station, but Metrolink owns the track / right of way. So unless the Metro said to get rid of the cars what right did the town have the more or less condemned?

It is my understanding the railway has allegedly not been in compliance with conditions of their lease(s) for two or three years now. After repeated requests to meet those conditions I think the town finally got fed up. Granted, the railway has had a number of issues come up that were totally out of their control (heavy tornado damage, track issues with no money to repair them, all three of their locomotives out of service, etc.), but there were conditions they could have met fairly easily, like selling those coaches. Last time I was there a lot of junk was on the property.
As for the leases(s), there are actually two leases. One for the station which the town owns and one for the track which is subleased from the towns of Uxbridge and Stoffville. They lease the track from Metrolinks. That lease expires next year at some time.

70000 · **Posted:** Sat Dec 23, 2023 2:50 am

I can't help seeing the irony in a seemingly anti-rail Town Council that uses a Coat of Arms (apparently dating from 2001) that seems to have lifted part of the design from that used by British Railways in the 1960's.......

BR emblem......

Attachment:

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Uxbridge Coat of Arms....

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Screenshot 2023-12-22 at 19-25-05 Uxbridge Ontario - Wikipedia.png [ 366.86 KiB | Viewed 6882 times ]

More sertiously, the presence of that preserved line was the only reason I've ever had to visit Uxbridge on a couple of my trips to Canada and spend money in the local area whilst I was there. It will be interesting to see if the line shutting does have an effect on the economic activity in the area.
I note the Town (according to Wiki...) brand themselves as the "Trail Capital of Canada", so I hope this isn't just a means of creating another trail along the now disused rail trackbed as far as Stouffville.....

Great Western · **Posted:** Sat Dec 30, 2023 6:50 am

On facebook:

York-Durham Heritage Railway
5 hours ago
·
Hope everyone is doing well during this time of year!
Quick preservation and other updates:
1) We are sharing that our 1919 wooden boxcar is being saved and is going to a new home. She is shown pre-tornado. The tornado put several holes in her roof but her structure is still good. Her new owner will be trucking her off site and working on putting in the huge amount of work to get her looking much better.
2) We have been approached by interested parties wanting to save heavyweight coach 4960, thus, we have stopped the process of scrapping her in order to give her a new lease on life. More details on her new owner to be announced at a later date.
3) Replacement windows for the rules car are ready to be installed. Several windows were destroyed beyond repair during the tornado of 2022. This will be an all-volunteer project so if you're good at wooden window installs, we would like to have your expertise! Inbox us here for details.
As always, we appreciate the support of everyone while we work on downsizing our collection of event accessories, surplus work equipment, and our event structures. Lots of items are available, please message us if you're looking for various event pieces.
We also have surplus office furniture available. This includes several commercial and office grade work desks. Several are matching sets or will be sold separately. First come, first served, inbox us if you're looking for some of these items.

SD70dude · **Posted:** Sat Dec 30, 2023 4:01 pm

Here's an interesting writeup on the YDHR story from photographer Jacob Patterson, of particular note is the middle paragraph which I've copied and pasted below.

http://www.railpictures.ca/?attachment_id=53573

"A number of factors appear to have led to this outcome, becoming very convoluted with various statements from both the town of Uxbridge and the railway, however some things are clear. The charitable organization switched from a largely volunteer basis to numerous paid positions over the last few years, totaling 88 part time, and 9 full time employees. The 2018 charities return shows a revenue of $1.3 million, with $1.1 million in expenditures. Of this amount, $24,607 was paid for management and administration. Compare this to the 2022 charities return, which shows a revenue of $2.4 million, and expenditures of $3 million. Of this total, $351,151 was payment for the 88 part time employees, and $564,335 was payment for the 9 full time employees. Payment of the full timers was split as follows: 7 employees in the $40,000 - $79,999 range, 1 in the $80,000 - $119,999 range, and lastly, President and CEO, John Perks, in the $160,000 - 199,999 range. The above compensation totals $915,486, which is 37.2 times what was spent just five years earlier, with a bit less than twice the revenue generated."

2018 return:

https://apps.cra-arc.gc.ca/ebci/hacc/sr ... 1&dsrdPg=1

2022 return:

https://apps.cra-arc.gc.ca/ebci/hacc/sr ... 1&dsrdPg=1

CMDoc87 · **Joined:** Sat Apr 09, 2022 12:59 am **Posts:** 14

From YDHR's Facebook:

'From the YDHR Board of Directors:
Despite our best efforts, the current YDHR business model has not been successful with unique delays and losses during our non operational years.
Effective Monday Jan 8, we are going back to our roots, a volunteer driven organization. We wish to thank the management team for the years of dedication and service and wish them well in their future endeavours.
To the hundreds of volunteers that have come to support us during the past almost thirty years, a very sincere thank you, we could not have made it without you. We look forward to having your support for many years to come. The task ahead is monumental, however, we remain optimistic, as we go back to our roots, our priority is to keep growing a strong volunteer base and continue to provide our supporters and new friends, smaller, tamable events with the goal of reducing our debt load significantly over the next 24 months.
Your support is always appreciated. Thank you for continuing to believe in the mission of YDHR to bring Canadian Railway history to life."

As noted on Facebook looking at the individuals involved via reddit posts and Canadian government records makes this look as not such an one sided affair.

York-Durham Heritage Railway (Ontario) scrapping and move

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